Phantom Public – Campaigns & Electionshttp://www.phantompublic.me
A blog by Richard K. Barry about American electoral politics: news, ads, polls, and analysis. Liberal bias warning.Thu, 03 Aug 2017 00:02:58 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.169472139This Day in Politics: August 2, 1923 – Vice President Calvin Coolidge become U.S. President upon the death of President Warren G. Hardinghttp://www.phantompublic.me/2017/08/02/this-day-in-politics-august-2-1923-vice-president-calvin-coolidge-become-u-s-president-upon-the-death-of-president-warren-g-harding/
Thu, 03 Aug 2017 00:02:58 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5645
]]>5645Chris Christie – worst governor everhttp://www.phantompublic.me/2017/07/31/nj-governor-chris-christie-worst-governor-ever/
Mon, 31 Jul 2017 23:57:39 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5634Continue reading →]]>On a day when a story appeared in papers throughout the country showing Gov. Christie bullying some guy who heckled him at a baseball game, it was sweet to read that a new poll by Marist shows his approval rating at a pathetic 16% among New Jersey residents. Almost three in four adults in the state, 73 percent, have an an unfavorable opinion of the him with only 20% indicating a favorable impression.

“Following Bridgegate, a failed presidential bid, and the fallout from his holiday beach visit, New Jersey residents have had it with Governor Christie,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “It is unlikely that a sense of nostalgia will kick in during his final months as governor. The overwhelming proportion of Garden Staters think New Jersey is headed in the wrong direction and think Christie will be remembered as either a below average governor or one of the worst. ”

Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno has the Republican nomination in the governor’s race later in the year and, not surprisingly, she is being dragged down by Christie’s terrible numbers. A recent poll shows Democrat Phil Murphy at 54%, leading Guadagno who is at 33% among New Jersey registered voters.

I hope she’s grateful for the “help,” and I hope he goes away and soon.

]]>5631Kid Rock for U.S. Senate – shoot me nowhttp://www.phantompublic.me/2017/07/28/kid-rock-for-u-s-senate-shoot-me-now/
Fri, 28 Jul 2017 19:25:10 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5624Continue reading →]]>Yes, that Kid Rock for Senate crap is still out there, as the jackass himself has recently said he is “exploring” the idea and planning a press conference sometime in the next six weeks to address the issue.

“I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bull—-,” he writes. “As part of the excitement surrounding this possible campaign, I decided to take a hard look to see if there was real support for me as a candidate and my message or if it was just because it was a fresh new news story.”

America, where any self-promoting douchebag can grow up to run the country. And every reality TV story line has to be taken seriously. Sad.

]]>5624Could Sessions reclaim his Senate seat?http://www.phantompublic.me/2017/07/27/could-sessions-reclaim-is-senate-seat/
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 23:56:03 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5617Continue reading →]]>I’ll bet a lot of people have been wondering if Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be able to claim his old Senate seat should Trump find a way to get rid of him.

Apparently it could happen if all nine candidates currently running for the GOP nomination for the seat Sessions vacated agree to drop out of the primary contest, which would then enable the Alabama GOP to appoint Sessions as their nominee for the special election.

The filing deadlines was May 17th, so Sessions couldn’t run straight up.

First Sessions has to find himself out of a job in Washington and then a bunch of very ambitious people have to agree to the scheme, a lot of hypotheticals.

As Politico writes, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks, one of the Republican candidates apparently in danger of missing a GOP primary runoff, “has offered to drop out of the contest to make way for under-fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reclaim his old seat in Congress’ upper chamber.”

Maybe Brooks doesn’t think he has much of a chance and is trying to play the hero to distinguish himself, but it’s an interesting ploy in the state where Sessions remains very popular.

Recent public polling has placed Brooks, who has been the subject of millions of dollars in attack ads from a super PAC controlled by allies Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in third place heading towards the Aug. 15 runoff. The ads have portrayed him as insufficiently supportive of Trump.

It would seem the other candidates, including frontrunner Sen. Luther Strange (currently appointed to the seat), are unlikely to go for it should circumstances present themselves, but it may be worth a try. Still, could there be a problem with siding with Sessions against Trump given that Alabamans also love the president?

“I recognize that President Trump is popular in Alabama,” Brooks writes at the close [of a] statement. “My closest friends and political advisers have told me to not side with Jeff Sessions, that it will cost me politically to do so. My response is simple: I don’t care. If this costs me politically, that’s fine but I am going to the right thing for Alabama and America. I stand with Jeff Sessions.”

Oh, it’s not going to happen, but I wouldn’t want to be the Alabama politician who stood in the way of Jeff Sessions getting a consolation prize should Trump screw him over. Ain’t politics weird?

The primary is August 15th. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent, the runoff is September 16th. The general election is December 12th. It’s a safe Republican seat.

]]>5617Could VP Pence survive a Trump crash to fight another day?http://www.phantompublic.me/2017/07/12/could-vp-pence-survive-a-trump-crash-to-fight-another-day/
Wed, 12 Jul 2017 15:00:17 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5610Continue reading →]]>I’ve been watching the Medici family saga on Netflix recently and have come to the conclusion that the Trump’s and their allies are like a really, really dim-witted version of the famous, and ruthless Italian family.

I had a good chuckle when I heard VP Mike Pence’s statement on Don Jr.’s increasingly provable efforts to collude with the Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Here is the official statement from Pence’s press secretary:

The vice president is working every day to advance the president’s agenda. He was not aware of the meeting. He is also not focused on stories about the campaign – especially those pertaining to the time before he joined the campaign.

It seems we are never quite sure if Pence knew he was lying when he repeatedly said Trump and team had no problematic dealings with the Russians in 2016, or if he was so out of the loop he had no choice but to say what the man at the top expected.

Whatever the case, it may now be the case that he’s tired of explaining himself and has decided to simply say that whatever happened, it wasn’t him.

Steve Benen at MaddowBlog writes that this could be part of Pence’s efforts to “establish his own political identity distinct from that of the president who chose him.”

The New York Timesreported over the weekend, for example, that Pence “has been courting scores of the country’s most influential donors, corporate executives and conservative political leaders over the past several months in a series of private gatherings and one-on-one conversations.”

Isn’t that interesting?

If Trump does crash and burn can Pence survive? I guess it all depends on what he knew and when he knew it and what can be proved. What Benen asks is maybe more to the point in the short term: Are we approaching an every-person-for-themselves phase of the Trump presidency? And, I would add, if not now, when?

]]>5614Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Mo Brooks loves Trump and his wallhttp://www.phantompublic.me/2017/07/11/alabama-u-s-senate-candidate-mo-brooks-loves-trump-and-his-wall/
Tue, 11 Jul 2017 20:49:41 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5606Continue reading →]]>Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama is running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama, and he loves him some Donald Trump and his Mexican wall. In fact, both of those passions are driving his campaign to be the next senator in that very red state.

Brooks, he says, is an outsider to all that inside Washington nonsense standing between Trump and his plans to make America great again, and he is sure that there are many establishment Republicans more a part of the problem than the solution who need a good Alabama ass whoopin’, if you know what I mean (My words, but he’d say it if it weren’t for those sissy PC types who would howl).

A Republican will win this seat, and probably one who professes Trump-love more effectively than his GOP opponent(s). Incumbent Sen. Luther Strange is among those up against Brooks in the primary and has been on Brooks for being critical of Trump, citing an “old insult” in which Brooks referred to the president as “a serial adulterer,” back when that was considered a bad thing in Alabama.

As for Strange there is that whole mess involving his appointment by former Gov. Robert Bentley, who resigned under a cloud due to a sex scandal and abuse of power allegations. Brooks seems to see no contradiction in tying Strange to a supporter’s sex scandal given the history of Brooks’ revered president.

Trump has not yet endorsed in the race, though Salon notes that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it clear that he prefers Strange over Brooks.

This is a state that elected Jeff Sessions to the U.S. Senate, so I have no idea how low their standards could go. Maybe it doesn’t matter, though it will be fun to see these guys tap dance around a successful presidential impeachment proceeding should it come to that.

]]>5597Russian hackers targeted 21 states in 2016 presidential electionhttp://www.phantompublic.me/2017/06/29/russian-hackers-targeted-21-states-in-2016-presidential-election/
Thu, 29 Jun 2017 19:26:43 +0000http://www.phantompublic.me/?p=5588Continue reading →]]>Last week Jeanette Manfra, acting undersecretary of cyber security for the Homeland Security Department, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that “Russian hackers targeted 21 U.S. state election systems in the 2016 presidential race” and that “a small number were breached but there was no evidence any votes were manipulated.”

As has been well-reported:

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the Kremlin orchestrated a wide-ranging influence operation that included email hacking and online propaganda to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump, a Republican, win the White House in November.

Manfra also said, according to a story in Governing magazine, “that none of the digital intrusions affected the parts of the electoral system that counted votes, but that they expect Russia to keep trying.”

While she and other officials testifying argued that “U.S. elections are resilient to hacking in part because they are decentralized and largely operated on the state and local level,” some members of the committee were quick to point out that it wouldn’t take very many votes to impact the outcome of an election.

“A sophisticated actor could hack an election simply by focusing on certain counties,” Maine Senator Angus King said. “I don’t think it works just to say it’s a big system and diversity will protect us.”

At this point it would appear Russian hackers are analyzing data they have collected in order to determine how to compromise the integrity of the voting system at some future date.